Ohio gets funding to control tree-killing beetle

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ohio will get more than $140,000 in federal money to help control a tree-killing beetle and other pests threatening the state's ecology and forestry industry.

A Friday statement from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown says the money is part of the 2014 Farm Bill. Brown says the funding will help with the study and control of the Asian longhorned beetle and other pests that are having devastating effects on Ohio's hardwood forests and harming the state's nursery industry.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is distributing more than $48 million to states dealing with the population growth of disease-causing insects.

The bullet-shaped, white-spotted black beetle was first identified in Ohio in 2011. As of last September, nearly 19,000 infested or high-risk trees in southwest Ohio had been removed.